(Anglo-Saxon) pennies for your thoughts? (aka, more fun with images)

EVillageProwler

I've been incredibly bored because it's a light period at work and my wife is away. Moreover, I've over-planned with the various upcoming auctions as much as I can and have nothing else to do but to process old images of some of my coins. Most of the images were taken by someone else, aside from the Offa of which I need to get someone to take better pictures for me.

Kings of Mercia. Offa 757-796. AR Penny (17mm, 1.18g). Light coinage (c. 780-792), Crosslet type. Canterbury mint; Babba, moneyer. OFFA / BABBA. Chick 89e. Found Peterfield, E.Hamps. EMC 2013.0026; North 266; SCBC 904. Good VF. Very light porosity. A most attractive example of the light coinage issue.



Kings of Mercia. Coenwulf 796-822. AR Penny (19mm, 1.32g). Portrait type. Uncertain mint in East Anglia, possibly Gipeswic (Ipswich); Lul, moneyer. Struck circa 800-821. + COENVVLF REX (Mercian M with horizontal line above), diademed bust right / + L V L within angles of long cross fourchée, with pellet in each outer angle. cf. BMC 73; North 362-3; SCBC 919. Near EF, attractive cabinet tone. Rare.



Kings of Mercia. Burgred 852-874. AR Penny. Lunette type. Tidhelm, moneyer. BURGRED REXM, diademed bust right / TIDHELM; in unbroken lunettes above and bottom, MON / ETA (and flanked by tri-pellet clusters). SCBC 938. Superb EF, deep even patina. Nice strike.

Sadly, this coin is slabbed.



Kings of Wessex. Aethelred I. 865/6-871. AR Penny (1.17g, 12h). Lunette type. Canterbury mint; Ethelred, moneyer. +ÆÐELRED REX, diademed bust right / EÐELRED between two lunettes inscribed MON-ETΛ. SCBC 1055. Near EF, toned. Rare.

Ex Glendinings, 24 May, 1972, lot 615.



Kings of Wessex. Alfred the Great. 871-899. AR Penny (19mm, 1.09g). Lunette type (871-c.877). London mint; Biarnred, moneyer. +AELFRED REX, diademed bust right / BIARNRE between two lunettes inscribed DMON-ETΛ:::. SCBC 1057A. Near EF, toned. Rare.

Ex Croydon Hoard, 1862, listed by Blunt and Dolly 1959; Marsham Townsend, Sotheby November 19th 1888; Carlyon Britton, Sotheby November 17th 1913; SNC March 1914; SNC March 1916; SNC July 1921; H.A.Parsons Glens 11-13 May 1954; Morrison aquired 1984.



Kings of Wessex. Edward the Elder. 899-924. AR Penny (23mm, 1.55g). Portrait/two-line (HT 1) type. Late period, phase II, circa 920-924 East Anglia mint; Andreas, moneyer. + EADVVEARD REX, diademed bust left / ANDR-EAS MO in two lines; trefoils above and below, three crosses between. SCBC 1084. Typical weakly struck head, but otherwise a superb coin. Near EF, toned. Rare.

Andreas is a new moneyer for the reign.



Kings of Wessex. Edward the Elder. 899-924. AR Penny (23mm, 1.60 g, 2h). Circumscription cross/Horizontal-Trefoil 1 (HT1) type (BMC ii). Uncertain mint; Maginhard, moneyer. + EADVVEARD RE · X, small cross pattée / MEGENARD MO in two lines, + + + between, trefoils above and below. CTCE –; SCBI –; BMC; North 649; SCBC 1087. Near EF, toned. Extremely rare – an unlisted moneyer for this issue.



Kings of Wessex. Aethelstan. 924-939. AR Penny (24mm, 1.46g, 11h). Circumscription Cross type (BMC v). London mint; Ellafr, moneyer. + AEDELSTAN REX TOT BRIT, small cross pattée / + ELLA F MONETA LVND CIVITT, small cross pattée. Blunt, Aethelstan 185 (same dies as illustration); SCBI 1 (Fitzwilliam), 574; BMC –; North 672; SCBC 1093. Near EF, toned, minor die flaws. Well struck on a broad flan. Rare for London mint.

This issue commemorates Aethelstan as King over all Britain (REX TOTIS BRITANNIA).

Aethelstan was a remarkably successful monarch who managed to establish dominion of the whole of the island of Britain, having driving the Danes from York and received the submission of Constantine of Scotland, Hywel Dda of Wales, and Owain of Strathclyde, and Ealdred of Northumbria. Ruling over these diverse people required a new, centralized government ruled through ealdormen and advised by the Royal Council. Æthelstan also reformed legal codes, standardized the coinage, and promoted the church. Unfortunately, his kingdom did not survive long after his death. York quickly reverted to Viking control under Olaf Guthfrithsson of Dublin. Æthelstan’s successor, his half brother Eadmund, spent most of his reign attempting to maintain control of his threatened kingdom.



Kings of Wessex. Eadmund. 939-946. AR Penny (21mm, 1.18g, 2h). Small cross/Horizontal-Pellet 1 (HP1) type (BMC i). Uncertain mint; Hunsige, moneyer. + EADMVND REX, small cross pattée / HVNSIGE MO in two lines, + + + between, pellet above and below. CTCE 121; SCBI 34 (BM), 354; North 688; SCBC 1105. Near EF, toned. Good metal.



Kings of Wessex. Eadwig. 955-959. AR Penny (1.20g). Non-portrait type, North Western style. Agtardes, moneyer. +EADPIG REX, small cross pattée within linear circle, m in field, outer linear and beaded circle surrounding / AGTAR – DES MOT in two lines, three crosses center, rosette of pellets above and below. North 725; SCBC 1122. Near EF, toned, slightly wavy planchet and little scuffed. Very rare.



Kings of All England. Harold I Harefoot. 1035-1040. AR Penny (18mm, 1.06g, 12h). Fleur-de-Lis type. Winchester; Godwine, moneyer. + HΛRO:•LD R.E Diademed bust left, scepter before / +GO DPIN E ON PI(NE) Voided long cross; pellet in circle in center, fleur-de-lis (flanked by pellets) in angles. SCBI 40 (Stockholm), 1463 = Hild. 1016 var. (PIN); BMC -; North 803; SCBC 1165. Good VF, well struck and toned.



Kings of All England. Harold II. 1066. AR Penny (18mm, 1.30g, 6h). Pax type (BMC i). Warwick mint; Thurcil, moneyer. + HΛROLD REX ANGL•, crowned head left; scepter before / + ÐVRCIL ON PEΛRPI, PΛX between two parallel lines. SCBI 2 (Hunterian), 1213 (same dies); Hild. –; BMC –; North 836; SCBC 1186. EF, superb deeply iridescent patina. Exceptional strike and state of preservation. Portrait of excellent style.

EVillageProwler

Danelaw. Danish East Anglia, St. Eadmund Memorial Coinage. Struck c.885-915. AR Penny (19mm, 1.17g). Winegar, moneyer. +SC EADMVNDE around a large A, trefoil of pellets above, rev., small cross within a circle, +VVINECR MONT. North 483; SCBC 960. Superb EF, richly toned.

This coinage was struck by the Danish settlers of East Anglia in memory of the canonized martyr Eadmund, the last English King of East Anglia, who was brutally murdered in A.D. 869 by the invading Viking army. In its own way this coinage reflects the rapid adoption of 'civilized' Anglo-Saxon habits, like Christianity and coinage, by the invaders following their arrival in England.

EVillageProwler

Danelaw. Cnut. 895-902. AR Penny. York (?) mint. +CNVT (in chrismatic form) REX around long patriarchal cross / +CVN::NI:T::TI::, small cross with pellets. SCBC 993. Good VF, nice old collection toning.

The name Cnut is arranged around the arms of the cross in the manner early Christians would cross themselves during prayer.

NiceCurrency

Nap

Very nice pieces, your taste for quality coins is exceptional.

I don't think I've seen your Aethelred I penny before. Me likes.

Your picture of the Eadwig penny is much nicer than the Baldwin's pic.
There's an interesting article on the different forms of "mint" or "moneyer", noted as "MOT" on the Eadwig (convention follows that the moneyer name ends in -es or -des when the form MOT is used) and "MONETA" on Aethelstan.
BNJ article
Article is from 1962 but still relevant.

Of additional interest, as mentioned in the article, is the suggestion that the "-es MOT" format and the "M" in the central device may be evidence of Mercian origin, although the suggestion is more that the dies were made in Mercia, rather than that the coins were necessarily struck in Mercia.

Iosephus

I know nothing about these coins, but have greatly enjoyed looking at all the examples you have been showing lately. Thanks for taking the time to post them!

BS

Amazing collection, thanks for posting.

JCMhouston

You sure are getting a lot of work done, and the results look very nice.

Swampboy

Really a pleasure to peruse.

That is an awesome collection.

Hussulo

Fantastic collection. The images are sharp

FilthyBroke

That Alfred the Great penny is nice. I read somewhere that there are less than 40 known examples of this type. Those Edward the Elder examples are tough finds too I'll bet. I don't think I've seen any of these outside of maybe the Spink catalogue. Nice finds!

EVillageProwler

Thanks guys.

Nap - yes, my Eadwig image is nicer than Baldwin's but I can't seem to correct the hot and cold spots. It's a decent coin in hand. Also, I haven't had time to read the BNJ article, but I will. Please keep them coming.

FilthyBroke - yes, that Alfred penny is pretty scarce. But, it really depends on the number of collectors looking to spend that kind of money because a non-portrait issue (S-1066) is about 1/3rd the price.

To the general audience - which S-1084 (portrait Edward the Elder) image do you like, the one below (old) or the one above (today)? Both are done with my iPhone, but under different lighting circumstances. The old image is more faithful color-wise, but is the only aspect that it has over the new image. As for the hot and cold spot issue, the two coins just have them in different ways.

(I'll try again when I have time on a sunny weekend morning.)

Aethelred

All I can say after looking at those coins is:

"wow, just wow!"

These are stunning examples from what is, to me at least, one of the most interesting periods in history. As far as timey wimey stuff goes, this is some of the best!

I love the photos and I tend to like a simple photo of a coin on a white background best, well done!

and again....

WOW, JUST WOW!!!!!